"The government`s policy is to resolve all cases of alleged human rights violations that happened in the past in Indonesia, including the ones that occurred in Papua," Wiranto said.
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian government will settle all alleged cases of human rights violations in the past in the country, including those in Papua, a senior minister said here on Wednesday.

Coordinating minister for Political, Security and Legal Affairs, Wiranto, said the government is committed to resolve 11 cases of alleged human rights violations in Papua, including the Biak Numfor case of 1998 and the Paniai case of 2014.

"The governments policy is to resolve all cases of alleged human rights violations that happened in the past in Indonesia, including the ones that occurred in Papua," he stated.

Wiranto said the government seriously wished to resolve such cases but it would take a long time since evidence needs to be collected.

"The government is serious. We have continuously tried to make efforts to settle the cases but it was not an easy job as there were witnesses involved. Also, there are issues of evidence. Also, there is now the National Commission on Human Rights. Besides, these cases happened a long time ago in the 1990s or early 2000s," he explained.

Wiranto said the government would certainly inform the public with regard to any development on this front.

"Soon we will explain as which cases are categorized as serious and what kind of settlement is arrived at to avoid any perception that the government was trying to ignore or neglect them," he stressed.

He noted that the government certainly wished that such cases could be settled quickly but "indeed, evidence is needed and finding it would take time but, in principle, we are really serious to settle them."

Regarding criticism from several countries about human rights violations in Papua during the recent UN General Assembly meeting, Wiranto said the Indonesian nation must have confidence in the government which has always done the best for the progress of Papua and all regions in the country.

"Not all what the foreign countries present is always true," he reminded.

He said the Indonesian government was paying full attention to the development of Papua, just like other regions.

"We must be confident that we are doing the best for Papua and other regions in terms of economic development, education and infrastructure development. Even government officials have often been visiting Papua," he underlined.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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